One Last Chance
by wonderxwoman
Summary: Scarlette's "normal" life as a thief gets turned around when she gets mistaken for the thief of a sacred and ancient book. Rated for language, some thematic elements(haha), and romance. READ AND REVIEW!


"No! You can't take me to jail! I didn't do anything wrong!" screamed the girl, furiously kicking at her massive captors.

"Didn't do anything wrong, girlie? What do you call stealing _The Ancient Book of Gems_?" leered the human mass of stone who was supposedly a guard.

"That wasn't me, you fucking idiot!" yelled the captive, now slightly hysterical.

_Just her luck. The time when she didn't actually do anything against the law, she got sent to jail! That was so out of-_ her chain of thoughts were broken off when the fattest ugliest, and stupidest of her captors who seemed to be the leader shook her violently and bellowed,

"Watch you language gal, or we're gonna have to be rough with you." In response to his follower's guffaws, the girl laughed harshly and said, "What? You mean you lot don't consider this rough?"

"Oh no, honey," came the voice of the leader, "This isn't anywhere near the kind of rough we'll get with you, is it fellows?"

"You're damn right, Yellowfield, so far we've been treatin' her nice and real genteel-like, and should keep treating her that way 'cause-" he was cut off by a threatening glare from Yellowfield which clearly said that if he was thinking about giving orders, he better think again because he, Yellowfield, did the ordering around here.

"I-I-I meant no disrespect, sir. I was just sayin' we should treat her nice because later on we can have some fun with her, if you catch my drift. Starting with you of course Yellowfield he added hastily after another life threatening glare from the man in question.

The girl's bubble of hope that there might be someone in this mass of cruel people, no not people, beasts, was dashed. It was slightly reformed when a voice from the midst of the mass yelled, "Hey Yellowefield, no disrespect mean, but shouldn't we be takin' this girlie here to the King?"

_The King! So they weren't lying after all! The King, the King, rack your brain Scarlette, what do you know about the King? Nothing! Except that he had cleared Alexander of all charges when he got caught nicking the purse of an old lady. _Alexander, just the thought of him made her swoon, and Scarlette was not someone to swoon easily!

'_You HAVE to think of happy things right now, strong things.'_

'_Alex IS a happy thought,' the other part of her brain said. _She hated it when she started arguing with herself, there was enough arguing going on in the world with her having to add to it.

'_Yeah, but even thouh the thought of Alexander is a cheerful one, it still makes you giddy. And you don't need to be giddy right, unless you want those big brutes to hurt or rape you. You have to be strong.' _

'_Right, I have to be strong,' _she repeated to herself. She needed to know more about the King. Alex had said he had been nice, but what did he know? Alex was charming, but was not very in tune with other people's emotions as she had experienced first hand one sunny afternoon in Kingsley Square.

flashback

She and her younger sister, Grace, were in Mrs. Browning's house helping her with the laundry. Despite being thieves, Scarlette and Grace weren't bad people. Everything was fine until old Mrs. Browning's grandson showed up.

Cigarette smoking, bullying Danny was a bastard. His idea of fun was getting high on opium, smashing windows, stealing candy from babies and ruining lives. Scarlette and her friends steal because it is the only way they can survive, while Danny steals either because he is bored or he feels like it. And worst of all, Danny loved Scarlette, or lusted after her, you could say. He would do anything to be with her, to kiss her, to have sex with her. Anything included setting her hair on fire. Scarlette's beautiful, wavy, thick, black hair had been destroyed that day. Danny in an attempt to make Scarlette be his, as he crudely put it, had threatened her. Lighting a match and holding it an inch away from Scarlette's face. Then he hissed,

"Kiss me, or else pay the consequences," and with that he lowered the match closer to her hair. Scarlette always thought Danny's words were full of bullshit, so she ignored him, but when he squeezed her buns of steal, she had had enough.

"Get you filthy hands off me! You know, even if you fuck me, I will NEVER be yours!"

At this outburst, Danny was so stunned, he dropped the still lit match. It landed in Scarlette's hair. She was in too much shock to make herself move. All she could do was stand right where she was and scream. Danny was just staring at her, a look of disbelief on his face. Then, he ran for it. Luckily for Scarlette, Grace and Mrs. Browning who had been in a different room ironing, heard Scarlette's screams and came running to her rescue. Shrieking when she saw her sister's precious hair on fire, Grace grabbed the tub of water Scarlette had been about to use for the clothes and dumped the contents of it on Scarlette's head.

"Good Goddess, Scarlette are you all right?" asked Mrs. Browning. With out waiting for an answer she ploughed on, "What happened?"

All Scarlette managed to croak was a strangled "Danny".

"Oh I will kill that boy! I can't believe he would do that! I know he may be a bit unruly and callous at times, but I never dreamed he would do suck a thing! Would you like some tea, dear?"

In response to Scarlette's feeble nod, Mrs. Browning started making tea.

"Scarlette are you all right?" asked Grace in a much gentler tone than Mrs. Browning's. "Do you want to go home?" At this she said "yes" the only word she had said since the incident other than "Danny".

"Okay then, lets get the hell out of here," Grace replied then said to Mrs. Browning, "I'm sorry Mrs. Browning, but I have to get my sister home." And with that Grace grabbed Scarlette's hand and led her through the streets home.

Once outside the shabby inn, Grace asked in a soft voice, "Do you want to tell my what happened?"

Drawing a deep, shaky breath, she proceeded to tell Grace exactly what had happened. By the time she had finished explaining, they had reached the room over the bar that they and their friends rented. Already Scarlette was feeling better. The shock and hurt she had felt at Danny's words were replaced with white hot feelings of anger, loathing, and revenge. Her hair was what bothered her the most. Her gorgeous, raven-black, mid-waist length locks were now just 3-inches of sopping burnt birds nest.

In front of the bar was Alexander whittling a stick and whistling a merry tune. When she saw him, all the feelings that she thought she had under control escaped her, and she broke into a run and flew at him, sobbing.

"Scarlette, what happened? Why are you crying?" asked the startled and confused Alex.

"My-my hair! Look at my hair!" she bawled.

"Oh, Scarlette darling, you will be fine. Its just hair."

"JUST hair! Its not JUST hair. Do you know that my hair is my most important 'possession'? The only thing I inherited from my mother? The only thing I have to remember her buy? And you don't know how many memories this will make me relive. Now whenever I think about my hair, instead of remembering my mom, I will always think of that bastard!"

"Bastard? Do you mean me? You better explain yourself."

But Scarlette had already left. Seeing Grace leaning against a tree watching the whole scene with a look of amusement and shock on her face, Alexander turned to her. "Did she mean me?!"

"Of course not! I can't believe you would think that!" exclaimed Grace.

"Well, who did she mean?" questioned Alex.

"Danny, Mrs. Browning's grandson."

"That son of a bitch. What did he do to her?"

So Grace started to tell Alex exactly what had happened. But Scarlette didn't know that. All she knew was that Alex thought her hair was important.

end of flashback

_Scarlette, snap out of it!_ the always sensible part of her brain told her. _You have to be strong, remember. _

_Right, strong. Got it. Now to find out about the King. _

A/N: Please REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!! And have a Happy New Year! 2005 here we come (im in a cheesy mood at the moment) by the way, im going to change the title soon.


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